Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will not interrupt Deputy Lahart if he does not interrupt me.

It seems to be one rule for some and other rules for the piglets.

We have tabled several amendments to this Bill and if they are not accepted, we cannot support the Bill. The Government has had plenty of time to address our concerns. Covid is an absolutely horrible virus. I can speak at first hand of how nasty it is, and I still have symptoms of long Covid. Nobody wants the Government to get this right more than me, and I mean that. I am immunocompromised. I am doubly vaxxed. I got my booster last week. I will follow to the end any common-sense, researched measures that are brought in. What I cannot accept, however, is the Government's lack of planning and pass-the-buck policy. It did it with the antigen tests.

It is now passing on the cost of the antigen test to the public. For example, there is no Lidl or Tesco within walking distance of my constituency office. If people want an antigen test, they have to go to the pharmacy. They are not sold in singles but in multipacks, which cost €30 each. That might not seem much to the Minister but €30 on top of the rise in the cost of living is insurmountable to some families I represent.

Deputy Cullinane touched on the failure in our schools. The Government had two years to reduce class sizes, introduce contact tracing and put proper air filtration systems in place but it did none of this. It passed the buck to the schools, which are already under enough pressure. No child should be refused entry to a school for not wearing a mask. What happens if home is not a safe place to send a child? Has that entered the Minister's thoughts?

Parents have contacted me numerous times to say their GPs are not writing waivers or notes to say their child cannot wear a mask. Has the Minister had consultation with the GPs or did he just land them with this? Failure to prepare is to prepare to fail.

During the previous debate we had here, the Minister interrupted me as I was speaking on the extension of powers under the Mental Health Act, especially around involuntary admissions to psychiatric wards by tribunals. He told me he would send me a note. I still have not received that note. I sent him an email, which he has not acknowledged. I took the Minister at his word. I can resend the email I sent last month. He expects us and the public to take him at his word but we get mixed messages and he does not follow through. He needs to restore public confidence in this Government and bring in practical, researched, easy-to-follow solutions so it is not put on the likes of schools or small businesses to carry the brunt of this.

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